Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), politician and fourteenth president of the United States, may be New Hampshire’s most famous resident. Pierce held the country’s most powerful position during a time of social volatility and territory expansion.

Pierce was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire in a small cabin owned by his father, Benjamin Pierce. Pierce had politics in his blood: his father was a state militia general and a two-time governor of New Hampshire. He was not a fan of school during his early life, but upon entrance to Philips Exeter Academy as a teen, his political interests flourished. He would go on to attend Bowdoin College and befriend other students there including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He attended law school following his graduation and passed the bar exam in 1827.

While operating a law practice in Concord, New Hampshire, Pierce went full force into politics. In 1828, he was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, where he served until 1833, and was quickly elevated to the Speaker position. He ran a successful bid to enter the US Congress at age 27, making him the youngest member in the House of Representatives at the time. During his service, he married Jane Appleton, who he met during his education at Bowdoin. In 1836, he was elected to the US Senate in 1936 and worked in Washington for one term.

In 1842, he decided to take a hiatus from elective politics. He continued to run his firm in Concord and spent time as the US District Attorney for NH. Pierce, always influenced by his father, decided to enlist in the volunteer services for the Mexican War. There he became a Colonel and gained the military exposure he’d need for the presidential campaign to come. In 1852, Pierce, a Democrat, was elected as US President, in which he’d serve one term.

His legacy as president mainly revolves around two major issues: the end of the Missouri Compromise and the growing distance between the interests of the North and the South. Pierce took a crippling hit when he decided to let the North and the South hash out what slavery policies the newly-purchased land out west would practice. The argument significantly increased the tensions that eventually led to the Civil War in 1861. Once his term was over, Pierce retired to New Hampshire and passed away in 1869.